Nebula had no trouble entering the compound without being seen. Of course, anyone who might have been watching for her was also dealing with yet another swarm of the dogs and the apes – and those on the roof were distracted by another wave of flying armored turtles that were systematically taken down by the railguns.

Once she ducked into the building, it was a simple matter for her to search for the corridors that looked more secure, knowing that was where she'd find their control room – and the only room that had guards on it, for that matter. As she searched, she listened to the sound of the battle outside the building and the loud booming of the guns on the roof which would resonate through the corridors she strode purposely through.

She came around a corner deep in the bowels of the building and ser sudden appearance startled two men outside a sturdy door. Without breaking stride, she lifted the weapon in her hand and took both of them down with two shots, and then stepped over their prone bodies and into the room weapon in hand and ready.

And stopped, unable to hide the surprise in her expression when she saw Gamora standing in the room next to a dark-skinned man and a few people who were manning displays. Her sister had a weapon in her hand, as well, and it was trained on Nebula the moment she made a target of herself. Nebula's weapon trained on Gamora as well, and the two women glared at each other across the suddenly silent room.

OOOOOOO

A soft alert woke Ned. Frowning, he reached automatically for his phone, which was pretty much an extension of his hand and picked up before he was even really awake. The boy looked at the message, and sat up, alarmed.

"Holy shit…" he whispered – even though no one else was in the room.

Ned was a guy who always wanted to know what was going on. Because of that – and absolutely without permission and well aware that he'd get reamed from every direction if anyone knew – he'd hacked into the security display in the bathroom of Peter's safehouse, and then had hacked the suit in order to keep tabs on anything that might be going on with the Avengers. And more importantly, Peter.

The teen scrambled, quietly, out of his bed, reaching for his laptop as he did, and turning it on. A few strokes of the keyboard and he frowned. He was only on Karen's peripherals; well aware that Friday (and Tony) would easily be able to find his tampering if he tried to go too deep, but it was enough to let him see some of what she knew. In this instance, though, she was offline in the suit and Ned didn't know what that meant – but assumed it was bad.

More than enough to make Ned's eyes widen in worry and fear.

Moving quietly to avoid waking his family, he turned on his TV, looking for any kind of news that might tell him what was going on with the compound, and then logged into a few chatrooms, as well, skimming the conversations to see what might be real and what was B.S. Large objects were detected in orbit, and there were rumors – ones that had a lot of credence – that the area between the compound and the city was being evacuated, and others that swore a huge swarm of some unknown kind of creatures were heading for New York.

"Jesus…"

OOOOOOO

Natasha Romanoff didn't see the blow that knocked her out of the battle of the compound.

The fighting was furious; she Groot and Stephen were making their stand near the south wall with a large group of SHIELD agents, protecting the entrance that led to the gym. Strange was picking off creatures with well-placed spells. He could have done a lot more damage by using more broad-spectrum energy bolts, but the Wakandans were now interspersed with the invaders, and spells didn't differentiate between friend and foe, so the sorcerer supreme needed to do it.

He had his back to Natasha, clearing out a sudden swarm of snarling creatures that were threatening to overrun their rear guard, when a warning came up – just a moment too late. A giant ape plowed over a couple of the SHIELD guys, swinging a huge paw at them and incidentally hitting Natasha in the back of the head when she turned to deal with a different group – and an injured SHIELD agent. Romanoff went down, and even as Stephen blasted the ape into shreds, the entire area was suddenly overrun by the swarm, and Natasha and Groot both vanished under the snarling swarm – along with everyone else, except Strange, who was lifted into the air by the cloak at just the last moment.

A somewhat frantic spell tore through the swarm, and once the closest of the creatures was disabled they were all instantly transported to the outside of the shield, revealing a jumble of limbs, and several still defenders. He settled to the earth, frowning even as he ran toward the spot he'd last seen her, and pulled up, confused. There was a solid wall of wood blocking his sight and keeping him from finding her.

A moment later, the wood shifted, and then began to retract, and Strange realized that it was Groot – and as the wood retreated further, it revealed a small area surrounded by the tough branches and twigs and Romanoff carefully cradled within that cocoon. The tree smiled, reassuringly, even as Stephen knelt beside Natasha, his fingers finding her neck, desperately feeling for a pulse.

"I am groot?"

Strange took a ragged breath, relieved, and he nodded.

"Yes. She is. Thanks to you." He looked at the other injured defenders littering the ground close at hand. The doctor in him took charge, automatically. The medical bays were all fully staffed, but there were so many injured all over the place that they were overwhelmed. He needed to get them clear – and was anxious to get Natasha in competent hand, immediately. He turned his intense gaze to Groot. "I'm going to move you and the injured into a room near the medical bay. Can you get the medics to them?"

"I am groot," the tree assured him.

A moment later Natasha, Groot and all the injured SHIELD people were gone. More determined than ever, Strange raised his hands, even as the cloak raised him up into the air a bit, allowing him to see the battlefield easier. Since he wasn't fighting near Natasha, now, and watching her back (and yes, he was aware that he'd done a lousy job of keeping her safe) he was able to allow the cloak to put him in a better position to see more of what was happening.

It was a worrisome sight; the shield still glowed in the dark of the night in those places where there weren't brilliant spotlights, but even he could see that the power was fluctuating in areas where the larger swarms were forcing their way through it. He flew up to the roof, joining Wong, picking off a few dogs as he did.

"Where's Natasha?" the other magician asked, turning his head even as he cast a portal spell in front of a falling turtle that opened much lower, smashing the creature to the ground well outside the shield.

"In the medical bay," he replied, succinctly.

"Is she-"

"She'll be fine." He brought up a shield of his own, as a handful of dead dog-like creatures were suddenly flung at those on the roof, as if tossed by a giant invisible hand. The corpses crashed into the shield, falling to the ground below, and Wong and Strange both looked for the source of what was clearly a magical attack of sorts.

"There," Wong said, gesturing toward the humanoid standing near the titan – who was merely standing on the outside of the shield, as if this fight was beneath him. "See him?"

"Yes."

More projectiles were flung at the roof, repelled by a casual-seeming wave of Wong's hand.

"Do we draw him out and kill him?"

"Of course."

OOOOOOOO

"What are you doing here?"

Gamora affected nonchalance., the weapon in her hand never wavering as she looked at the intruder.

"Stopping a madman."

Nebula's scowl was filled with hatred.

"It's a great destiny."

"He has you brainwashed, sister."

"I'm not your sister. You gave up the right to that title – or to being called daughter by father."

"He isn't my father. I had a father," Gamora told her. "Thanos killed him – along with my mother. The same way he killed yours."

Nebula shook her head, only looking away from Gamora to make sure that none of the others in the room were going to try anything before looking back to her.

"It's a great destiny," she repeated. "Move out of the way, or I will kill you."

"Thanos would probably approve."

"You're a disappointment to him," Nebula told her with a sneer. "If you're lucky, and you beg him, he may allow you to return as a servant."

"I'll never return to him – or to the life of lies that he put me through."

It was a standoff, and the others in the room didn't dare to move, unwilling to cause a distraction that might tip the scales in a direction none of them wanted to go. Fury's hand was very slowly going to the weapon at his side, his eye not missing anything, reading the body language of the two women, easily, and knowing that this wasn't going to end well.

Before he could make a move, however, there was a flash of yellow and white and Nutmeg launched himself from the shelf that he'd been sitting on and landed on Nebula's shoulder. She started, turning her head toward the surprise attack, realized what she'd done too late, and turned back to face Gamora, brining her weapon back to bear.

Far too late.

Gamora fired, and a gaping hole appeared in Nebula's chest. She dropped, and Nutmeg launched himself away from the falling form, toward Fury, who reached out to catch him, automatically – careful not to get scratched. Furry body twice its usual size due to him puffing his hackles, tail and sides, Nutmeg tucked his head up under Fury's chin, ignoring the fuss that he'd caused in favor of a little attention, instead.

Nick watched as Gamora knelt beside Nebula's body.

"You okay?" he asked.

He wasn't worried about her being injured; he'd seen that the other one hadn't managed to fire a shot. He didn't want a grief-crazed alien in his command center, however, and wanted to make sure that it wasn't going to be an issue.

Gamora nodded, stripping Nebula's body of weapons.

"I am. Is he?"

Fury snorted.

"He's a cat. He's fine." Fury turned to the others. "Check our guys, and get them to the infirmary. Take care of her, too," he added, gesturing to Nebula. He nodded to Gamora. "Nice shot."

She just shrugged.

"It was bound to happen."